Constant and Changing (kryber)

Chapter 9: All Night

"Mmm... I think I'll leave directly from Amber's apartment. It'll give me more time to sleep."

"OK," her manager agreed. I'll pick you up at 7." Krystal waved to her manager and walked towards the apartment building.

Not many people knew it, but Krystal actually had a key to Amber's apartment. As Amber didn't have any family in Korea, the English-speaking Jung family was a surrogate family of sorts, especially in Amber's early years of living in Korea. After f(x) moved out of their dorm into separate apartments, Amber had left a key with Krystal's family for emergencies. That key was now in Krystal's possession for her own personal use, not that anybody minded.

Krystal quietly let herself into the building and climbed the stairs up to Amber's floor. Amber was waiting for her when she got there. The older girl was standing just outside of her apartment with JackJack and GongJu, her two chihuahuas, under each arm. Once she saw Krystal, she smiled and put her dogs down. They charged full force at Krystal and jumped into her open arms. She pulled them to her tightly, letting them slobber all over her face.

"I haven't seen you guys in so long!" Krystal cooed in a baby voice, snuggling them tightly as she walked over to Amber. "I haven't seen you so long either," she said to Amber, still using the baby voice.

"That's a little creepy," Amber said with a grin. She gently placed her hand on Krystal's back and guided her into the apartment. "Come on in."

"Thanks," Krystal said, setting Amber's dogs down.

"You hungry?" Amber asked. "Want something to drink?"

"Nah, I'm good. But I'll take some sleep, please."

"Yeah, sure. My bed is your bed," Amber replied, which was literally true as Krystal always slept in Amber's bed when she spent the night, while Amber slept on the spare air mattress. "I was wondering why you were stopping by so late. You just needed a place to crash?"

"Do you mind?" Krystal asked apologetically, to which Amber shook her head. "I could have just gone home to sleep, but we haven't seen each other since we flew back last week and I... I just really wanted to see you."

"Of course I don't mind. I wanted to see you, too." They smiled at each other and held their gaze for just a tad longer than was usual for them. "So," Amber said after a moment, breaking the silence, "you wanna get ready for bed?"

Much like they had done in Tokyo, they brushed their teeth together again while making faces and generally bothering each other and prolonging their bedtime preparations. Krystal had a small stash of sleepwear and streetwear at Amber's apartment for unexpected sleepovers like this one tonight. She quickly changed, hopped into Amber's bed, and dove under Amber's covers.

"I assume you're too tired to want to stay up late playing games or watching movies?" Amber asked teasingly, seeing how tired Krystal looked. Amber picked up her stuffed toy named "Mr. Bread" and tossed it to Krystal who deftly caught him and hugged him tightly.

"Another night," Krystal promised, squishing Mr. Bread's cheeks.

"Suit yourself!" Amber replied, climbing onto the air mattress and bouncing on it a few times. She reached up to her nightstand to turn out the light, but Krystal reached out a hand to stop her.

"Wait, um... can you sleep with me again tonight?"

"Again?" Amber wondered, hesitating slightly.

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Krystal quickly offered. "It's just that the last scene I shot tonight was really depressing. It just made me feel so lonely and I don't want to be alone tonight..."